Blouse.



H. A. SHAPEHA.

BLOUSE. APPLICATION FILED Aua.12. 1915.

HARRY A. SHAPERA, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BLOUSE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec, 12, 1916.

Application filed August 12, 1915. Serial No. 45,086.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, HARRY A. SHAPERA, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Blouses, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specilication.

My invention relates to blouses; that is, blouse waists of the type commonly worn by boys, and the object of my invention is to provide a garment of this class that will serve to support the trousers and stockings of the wearer without the neat appearance or blouse effect of the garment being thereby impaired.

In accomplishing the object of my invention I provide the blouse waist with a pair of suspender straps, the ends of which are sewn into the waist-band of the garment. The length of the suspender straps which are arranged to be passed over the shoulders of the wearer, is such that the waist-band of the garment is suspended from the shoulders at the waist line. garment is considerably greater than the distance from the shoulders to the waist line with the result that the desired blouse effect, or fullness, is secured. The waist-band is so arranged that the knickerbockers or gai-ters of the wearer may be attached there-` to and in order that the Suspenders may afford the maximum amount of support without annoyance to the wearer or impairing the blouse eifect of the garment, I contemplate iaring the ends of the suspender straps so that the adjacent edges of the straps at the points where they join the waist-band will abut or lie in immediate proximity to each other, constituting in effect a supplemental waist-band. Thus the knickerbockers or garters of the wearer may be attached to the waist-band at any desired point, or points, and be thereby directly supported from the shoulders of the wearer.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating my invention Figure 1 illustrates my improved blouse as it is worn; Fig. 2 is a front view of the blouse illustrating how the ends of the suspender straps are attached to the waist-band of the garment; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in elevation illustrating the outside of the Waist-band; Fig. 4 is a rlhe length of the' cross-sectional view taken on the line 1 -4 of Fig. 2.

As illustrated in the drawings, the fabric constituting the body portion 5 of the garment is provided at its lower edge with a waist-band comprising a strap 6 within which the lower edge of the body portion is suitably gathered and stitched to aord the desired blouse effect.

The waist-band is provided at its edges with the usual button 7 and buttonhole 8, as illustrated. At 9-9 is illustrated a pair of shoulder straps which are crossed and stitched together at 10. The ends of the shoulder straps are flared outwardly at their extremities, as is most clearly illustrated in Fig. 2, and are securely stitched between the fabric of the body portion 5 and the adjacent section of the waist-band 6. Attention is directed to the fact that the adjacent edges of the several shoulder strap ends abut against or lie in immediate proximity to each other and that, therefore, they constitute in effect a supplemental waist-band inasmuch as the abutting edges of the shoulder strap ends when stitched in position, extend over substantially the entire length of the waist-band. The suspender straps 9 are of such length as to properly support the waistband at the waist line of the wearer, it being understood that the length of the body portion 5 of the garment is longer than the distance from the shoulders to the waist line in order to give the garment the desired fullness or blouse effect.

The waist-band is provided with a pair of eyelets 11 on either side thereof. These are intended to be used to support garters, when garters are worn. The garters are ordinarily provided with a device similar to a safety-pin. rlhis safety-pin can be hooked through the eyelets thereby attaching the top of the garter to the waist-band. When the garter is thus attached, the suspender straps 9 instead of the waist serve to support the garters and stockings from the shoulders. rllhe same thing can be applied also t0 trousers or knickerbockers which can be buttoned directly to the waist-band of the blouse, buttons 12 being provided for this purpose.

If the trousers or knickerbockers are buttoned or fastened to a blouse which does not have the suspender straps, there is a tendency to pull the band of the blouse down fr" r" f below the waist line. In the garment of my invention, the suspender straps prevent any such sagging or dropping of the waist-band regardless of the weight lof the trousers or knickerbockers buttoned to the waist-band and regardless of where the trousers or knickerboclrers are attached to the waistband. The ability to button the trousers` or lrnickerbockers directly to the waistband of the'blouse at any point or points along the waist-band and still to secure a proper support for the trousers obviatesthe necessity for wearing a waist provided with buttons to support the trousers and garters as is ordinarily done when a blouse waist is worn.

rlhe garment has a :further advantage in that it is not necessary for any purpose to tighten the waist-bandfat all. "Ibis-'commonly supposed that the wearing of a more or less tight belt orwafst-band is injurious to the health. The saine thing applies in case a leather strap or belt is worn in the top of the trousers or kniolrerbockers. Since the trousers or knickerbockers can be supported entirely by the suspender straps within the blouse waist, itis entirely feasible to wear the strap or belt quite loose, because the belt in such casev is merely ornamental and is not intended to support the weight of the trousers or knickerbockers.

Vhat I claim as new and desire to secure by :Letters Patent of the United States is: A blouse waist of the class described comprising a body portion, aloose-fitting waistband overlapping and stitched to the lower edge of the body portion, a pair of shoulder straps disposed within the body portion ott the garment and arranged to be crossed and passed over the shoulders of the wearer to support the waist-band at the waist line of the wearer, the said shoulder straps iaring at their extremities and the extremities of the shoulder straps being stitched between the body portion and the waist-band, with the adjacent edges of the several shoulder strap extremities lying in immediate proximity to each other along the length of the waist-band as and for the purpose set forth.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 9th day of August, A. D. 1915. if

HARRY A. SHAPERA. Witnesses: y

A. G. MCCALEB,

N. A. NEIBURGER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, :bly addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. C. 

